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Monday, June 5, 2017

Hello, and welcome to the June Flash Fiction. The man above is not the image being used this month. He's just there for your enjoyment and to bring a bit of happiness to your day. This is the pic we're using this month:

Magic
is just one of those things you don’t mess with. I knew this, but then again,
when you have no teacher you gotta make do. My grandmother’s spellbook was
propped up against the ugly fake flower arrangement in the middle of the kitchen
table as I slowly began to gather ingredients.

It
was a small spell or, at least, it sounded small. And, it was in the front of
the book. When you learn a craft, like knitting, the easy projects are always
at the front. Since people call magic The Craft, and they always use capital
letters when they say it, I figure it’s got to work the same way. Easy stuff at
the beginning and then it gets harder as you go.

The
spell was to make whatever object I chose light up. Like a flashlight, only
better, since it would never wear out. I was forever looking for a flashlight
so I figured I could make my own. Plus, if it was something that was too big to
lose it would be a double win. Right?

“What
are you doing?”

I
shrieked and whirled around to face the voice that suddenly spoke behind me.
Jace. Damn the man. He was like a freaking ninja. There before I even realized
it. And, shit, he looked so good. His wavy black hair, all tousled from the
wind, begged to have me run my fingers through it. No, no, down hormones. His
hair was not begging for anything. Neither were his intense green eyes or his
wide shoulder. Nope, not begging for anything.

“Tara?”

“Sorry,
I was lost in thought. What are you doing here?”

He
folded his arms over his amazing chest and stared at me. Okay, his arms were
amazing too. All muscled and cut and stuff. He’s look so much better with his
shirt off. And his jeans a bit unbuttoned. And barefoot. And . . . oh, my gosh,
hormones knock it off.

“Lost
again?” he asked.

“Yeah,
sorry, um, did you tell me why you were here?”

“Spotter,
remember?”

“I
thought you were kidding?”

He
stared hard at me and I shifted from foot to foot. Hell, I hate when he did
that. Stared without blinking. He perfected it in high school and pulled it out
to use on me because he knew it kind of freaked me out.

“Okay,
fine,” I said, throwing my hands in the air. “I was just going to try a very small,
tiny spell. It’s nothing big deal.”

“Uh
huh,” he said, stepping around me to look at the book. “So, what spell are you doing?”

“I’m
going to make this fake apple,” I said, picking it up to show him, “into a
light source. I just gather some ingredients. Say the spell and bingo the apple
will glow when I tell it to.”

He
nodded, slowly. “Okay, let’s do this thing.”

“Jace,
I know you have better things to do with your time than watching me struggle to
learn this stuff.”

He
stared at me again and I busied myself with pulling my hair off my face into a
sloppy bun. I didn’t want to ask, but knew I couldn’t help myself.

“So,
what’s Chloe doing tonight?”

Of
course, his fabulous model girlfriend would have a fabulous name. Bitch. Okay,
yeah, that wasn’t nice. I didn’t know her all that well, but I’m sure she’s a
perfectly nice person.

“I
have no idea,” he said, pulling out a chair at the kitchen table to sit.

I
wanted to ask, but instead began to gather the herbs the spell called for. I
needed to put him and his girlfriend out of my mind to concentrate on getting
this tiny spell right. Taking a deep breath, I let it out and began to add the
herbs to a bowl. Using a pestle, I began to grind them up, keeping in mind the
idea that I wanted light.

I
pulled my grandmother’s small cauldron off the shelf and sat it on the heavy
wood table. I placed small pieces of charcoal into the heavy steel container
and lit them. I’d had to get the charcoal from a place online since it wasn’t
the stuff you barbecued with. I’d thankfully used my brain to realize there was
no way you’d burn that in a pot in the house.

Slowly,
I began to add the herbs to the charcoal, just as my grandmother had written
it. The scent that filled the kitchen was pleasant and it gave me hope that
perhaps I was doing something right.

I
placed the apple in front of the caldron and held out my hands, palms up, and
spoke the words written in the book.

“By
the power in me, let there be light.”

A
force, something, moved through me and it almost felt as if I was buffeted by a
heavy breeze. Two orbs of light appeared in my palms and illuminated Jace’s
fascinated face. He watched me with a look I had never seen before. I kept my
focus though as the orbs floated up and began to slowly twirl in the air,
finally settling on the apple and disappearing.

“Fucking
A,” Jace whispered. “That was amazing.”

Smiling,
I picked up the apple and held it in front of me. “Illuminate.”

The
apple began to glow and I did a little dance. Something had finally worked out.
I’d finally done a spell and hadn’t zapped myself off a cliff or up a tree or
anything else.

“I
did it.” I put the apple on the table and the light faded, but my success high
hadn’t. I pumped my fist in the air. “I so rock.”

Jace
high-fived me as I did a little dance and, then, he was kissing me. I mean like
really kissing. Not just a peck on the cheek, but his lips were on mine. His
tongue, oh my gosh, was in my mouth. I should push him away, I mean, really, he
has a girlfriend, but I didn’t. I wrapped my arms around him and enjoyed the
hell out of the moment.